Queensland Police deny that they are are cashing in on crime by selling tickets to a talk about the death of Kiwi woman Warriena Wright. Photo / Supplied
Queensland Police deny that they are are cashing in on crime by selling tickets to a talk about the death of Kiwi woman Warriena Wright. Photo / Supplied
A Queensland police charity is selling tickets to a talk about the death of Kiwi woman Warriena Wright in a bid to raise funds for a charity that supports officers and their families.
But they say the event is not cashing in on crime.
The 26-year-old died after she fell from a 14th floor balcony during a Tinder date in Surfers Paradise in August 2014.
Her date was Australian man Gable Tostee, who was charged with her murder but later acquitted after a high profile nine-day trial in the Brisbane Supreme Court.
The Herald has learned that a charity supporting Queensland police are set to hold a presentation about the case at a Brisbane school - a ticketed event aiming to raise funds for an arm of the organisation.
Behind the Crime - The Gable Tostee Investigation and Trial will be held on Friday night at Brisbane Girls' Grammar School.
It will be presented by Detective Sergeant Adam Riley of the Queensland Homicide Investigations Unit.
"This presentation will look at the investigation surrounding the death of Warriena Wright after falling from the apartment of Gable Tostee," the event information said.
"We will discuss the circumstances of the case, how murder can be charged based on these circumstances, the identification of the digital evidence that was pivotal in the case and the subsequent trial in which he was acquitted of murder."
Gabe Tostee and Warriena Wright on the night she died. Photo / Supplied by Nine Entertainment
Tickets range from $20-25 and children are not permitted at the event.
"All monies raised through this fundraising initiative go to support all members of the QPS and their families," organiser Sergeant Kate Bailey explained.
The Herald sought further comment from police about the event - which is effectively designed to make money off the infamous tragedy.
Bailey said three presentations were held each year as a fundraiser for the charity Community Supporting Police.
The events were fully supported by the Queensland Police Service.
"Community Supporting Police is a 25-year charity that support sick and injured Queensland police, staff members and family members in times of need, to get police better and back out doing their work sooner," Bailey said.
She said the presentation was not an attempt to profit from crime.
"The subject of the presentation is to speak on the police investigation on how no conviction occurred, so featuring the person charged," she said.
Bailey confirmed Wright's family had been informed and consulted.
"Many of the presentations feature deceased or injured victims where the family is informed and consents and police superiors agree to the presentation topic, post court finalisation," she said.
"Further, a number of times family members of the victim have attend the presentation, learning more about the emotional work police are put through in solving their love one's crime, the processes behind the courtroom and often tell me they learnt more than during the trial, being so angry during that time."
According to the Behind the Crime website, the presentations have been running since2004 and while they were set up as "a means of attracting community support and interest in policing activities" the forums have "developed into a worthwhile medium to foster community relations".
Previous presentations include:
• The case of Tracey Wigginton and three other women who lured a man into a car at and then drove him to a park where she stabbed him 27 times and drank his blood.
• The murder of Janet Phillips. In 1998 Lloyd Fletcher was jailed life for the murder of the Manly schoolgirl. It was only after DNA samples were taken from Fletcher for another sex attack that he was matched with samples from the Phillips murder site 10 years earlier.
• The murder of Kiwi schoolgirl Sian Kingi. She was only 12 when she was abducted, raped and killed in Noosa, Queensland, in 1987. Barrie Watts and Valmae Beck, a married couple, were convicted in 1988 and sentenced to life imprisonment.
• The Childers Palace Backpackers Hostel fire on 23 June, 2000, which killed 15 people. Robert Paul Long was sentenced to life in prison for the murders.
